Lenovo and CNBC-TV18 come together to celebrate India IT Day

Mumbai, India, December 17, 2012: India IT Day, a day, committed to the commemoration of information technology in India, and its many accompanying successes. This day will see the coming together of some of the biggest names in IT, premier industry bodies, NASSCOM and MAIT, and technology behemoths like Intel and Microsoft. The event is being showcased by India’s english business channel, CNBC-TV18.

The IT sector has been a driving force in the Indian economy. Current industry statistics peg the sector to be worth around USD 100 billion, with the potential to reach USD 300 billion by 2020. Not only is IT a contributor to the economy, it also has a large role to play in the transformation of the country. To achieve this, the industry needs to gear up towards increasing the adoption of ICT solutions across all segments of the society as well as focus on product innovations, for both, the domestic as well as the global markets. India IT Day aims to create a discussion platform for the industry to analyze its performance over the last few years and focus on the way forward to make this happen.

Commenting on the initiative, Mr. Amar Babu, Managing Director, Lenovo India, said, “This is indeed a momentous occasion for Indian IT and we are proud to be associated with it. We believe that IT has the potential to chart the new growth path for India. But for that to happen, technology needs to be more inclusive and enable both business and product innovations throughout the country. India IT Day will seek to highlight what will it take for IT to address these issues and take India to the next level”.

Mr. Som Mittal, President, NASSCOM, said, “Technology has played a vital role in creating infrastructure for the next-generation service delivery for India’s citizens and business services. The priority now, is to harness the full potential of IT and mobile solutions to enable social and financial inclusion in India. The India 3.0 initiative and the IT innovation awards is aimed at creating the momentum in adopting of technology for social good and showcasing some of the most inspiring success stories. NASSCOM’s continuous endeavor is to engage with various stakeholders and build initiatives that promote public-private partnerships, standards and recognize excellence in IT adoption, and build a technology-enabled India”

Sanket Akerkar, Managing Director, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt.Ltd, said, “We’re excited to be associated with India IT Day. Technology as an enabler is a constant theme in the country’s 12th National Plan, and partnering with Government, IT Industry and Academia to help realize a digitally inclusive society lies at the core of Microsoft’s approach. Be it giving students a platform to unleash their creativity, helping entrepreneurs transform an idea into reality, or empowering young women through IT skills, our aim is to effect real impact on the people and communities who will drive forward India’s economic growth.”

Debjani Ghosh, Managing Director, Intel South Asia, said, “We are happy to be working closely with Lenovo on the India IT Day initiative. At Intel, we strongly believe that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can have a lasting, positive impact on people’s lives and the communities which they live in and have several initiatives that foster the effective use of technology for personal and community development. Intel along with other ecosystem players and the government is driving the National Digital Literacy Mission which is working towards making the goal of 1 e-literate person per household in India a reality.”

J.V. Ramamurthy, President MAIT said, “We, at MAIT, are very glad to be associated with India IT Day. MAIT has contributed immensely to the growth & development of the IT Hardware Sector and has strived to create a conducive atmosphere for ICT manufacturing in the country with the support of the Government of India. MAIT’s current thrust areas include promoting domestic manufacturing, Green IT management; IP among all stakeholders; international relations; the SME sector; design, innovation & new product development; the usage of genuine IT products, components and consumables and demand creation”.

Speaking about the initiative, Suresh Venkat, Consulting Editor, CNBC-TV18 said, “The IT industry has made enormous contributions, from technical excellence to economic success. But it has the capability to reach out beyond its principality. Our nation’s youth are one of the key recipient and contributors to this segment. With India 3.0, we are here to understand, learn, impart knowledge, initiate dialogues and overall celebrate the success and the ongoing IT revolution in our country.”

India IT Day is being held on the sidelines of the India 3.0 Agenda launched by Lenovo in collaboration with leading business news channel CNBC-TV18. Against this background, India IT Day will have CNBC-TV18 air 3.5 hours of exclusive programming content on the IT industry and viewers will get a chance to hear industry stalwarts, discussing the past and the future of the IT sector.